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Published: September 3rd 2007
Grenzgletscher
Glacier at GornergratSwitzerland is an amazing country. Even after multiple visits we fall in hopelessly love with it every time. If the cheese is not enough they have chocolate; if not the chocolate, then the mountains; if not the mountains, the wine; if not the wine, there's the mere fact that everything really does run like clockwork. Add to that wonderful family and friends and how could we not fall in love?
Though we managed slightly more time there this year than last year's flying visit, we were nowhere near ready to leave when the time came. Revisiting such perfect cities as Bern and Basel and discovering Interlaken (the town with everything) really tempted us to abandon all plans and settle down in this heavenly land.
But instead we threw ourselves
into a whirlwind twelve days in which we hung out with family (everyone from Grandpop to little Odine) all over the country, devoured huge shiny cherries, savoured every morsel of cheese, molten or otherwise, tasted superb Swiss wines (Neuchatel wine - highly recommended), and climbed mountains at every opportunity.
Here is an excerpt from Mel's journal, about one of the hikes we did in the Swiss Alps. This particular one was in the shadows of the Jungfrau, near Interlaken. Unlike most of our other crazy mountain adventures, this time we had an experienced local in the form of Andreas's mum, Vreni, a sprightly 64 year old mountain enthusiast who will shortly tackle the lofty slopes of Nepal. "...we happily set out into the fog, in search of the beautiful, dark Bachalpsee double lake. We had a short stop there for some Leckerli. Though it was awful visibility, we were very confident in Vreni's abilities and experience, and she, like us, was keen to continue. We went on, rounding the Faulhorn, and only getting a single glimpse of Lake Brienz down below as the clouds parted momentarily, before stopping for a much anticipated warm soup and hot
The Matterhorn
From the Gornergrat Bahn (train ride to 3089 metres) drink to accompany our sandwiches at Berghaus Mandlenen. It was warm when we arrived there, but by the end of lunch, the cold and the Swiss yodelling were getting too much.
We walked through lots of snow (but not stupidly snow deep like our Slovakian hike) and we spotted a couple of very cute, but bigger than expected marmots. As the sky cleared slightly we walked past three men in very funny hats - Vreni thought they's been fishing in the Bachalpsee, but they were shepherds, come to collect their cute, black-nosed and recently shorn sheep. Just after one had a good lick of Gareth's hand, a shepherd started calling out down the valley and the herd, with their variously tinkling bells (on sheep...heehee) came running for their treat of salt or sugar (couldn't tell which). Well, most of them came running but a significant minority stood still, gazed around and baaed loudly as if to say "Hey, where's everyone going?.....Hey! Wait for us!....Oh, I want some too!...Uhhh....My feet are all wet".... etc etc. You know...the usual sheep thoughts.
There wasn't much else going on up there in their gorgeous alpine valley apart from the luscious green grass,
Hola!
Barcelona, Spain the lunar rock landscape, and the riot of tiny flowers of every colour. The visibility was good by now, and with the help of a couple of Leki sticks each, we continued to power on until the very end of our 6 hour hike."
As for the food, also from Mel's journal... "At long last, I learned the meaning of 'raclette', as Numa and Bastien scraped off and dished up plate after plate of molten cheese from a huge three kilogram wheel of awesome Swiss luxury. Boiled spuds, pickled onions, champignons and capers were the perfect accompaniment.
Unbelievably, we managed more cheese for brekkie this morning - gruyere and buffalo amongst the three choices. We both had a bit of a tummy ache from last night's overindulgence, but why fight it?"
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Mum
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Cheese and Chocolate and Wine ... Oh my!
Your blog is brilliant, as usual. I can almost taste the cheese!Thanks for including all the fantastic family photos.